MacDowall Targets Outright Podium On His First Fly-Away

World Touring Car Championship independent Alex MacDowall is chasing an outright top three finish when he races in Brazil for the first time this weekend.

The trip to Curitiba will be the 21-year-old Carlisle racer's first ever long-distance fly-away motorsport event, as he looks to improve upon his current standing of fifth in the Yokohama Trophy behind the wheel of his bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze.

As well as aiming for a second class win after the one he got in Austria, MacDowall wants to finish the second race of the weekend in the overall top three.

“I'd like to try and get another Independents win next weekend but my main aim in Brazil is to try and finish on the outright podium” he said.

“With a good reverse grid slot for race two I think we could translate that into a top three finish overall.”

While the circuit is of course new, MacDowall is confident his Chevrolet should go well there.

“Obviously it'll be tough, we'll have to wait and see how it goes, and it is another brand new track for me,” he added.

“I've done a few hours on the sim though to try and prepare as well as possible. I think the track should suit us, the Chevy should be strong there.

“It's going to be about a 17 hour journey over there – we've got to fly from Newcastle to Heathrow, then from Heathrow to Rio and then Rio to Curitiba. Thankfully we've got a night flight so hopefully it shouldn't be too badâ€¦it's definitely the longest journey to a race I'll have ever had.”